MCWA Meeting Minutes of July 7, 2026
DRAFT
President Dan KD9M called the Aug 4, 2026 hybrid meeting (in-person and by Zoom) order at PM. The Pledge of Allegiance followed, led by Dave K9AT.
Board members present were:
President Dan Larson KD9M, VP Jim McDonald N7US, Treasurer Joe Robin N9OK, Secretary Lyle Giese W9LRG, Director Gary Kaatz W9TD, Past President Ralph Iden WB9ICF, Director Bob Smetana KE9CFO,, Director Gary Kaatz W9TD
Absent: None
There were 41 members in attendance with no guests and 8 members via Zoom
Guests
None
New Member
James Witt W9WIT (newly minted General and recently received a new vanity call)
Approval of Minutes
The meeting minutes from the July meeting were previously posted to the MCWA website for review. Motion to accept the minutes Gary W9TD, Dave NT9E seconded the motion. Hearing no objections, the minutes were approved.
Membership and Financial Reports
Opening Balance $10,284.50 as of June 30, 2026
Deposit $30.00 (Dale KE9FIC, James KE9FZJ, new members), Renewals (Ck 8013 Thomas KD6KHK)
Withdrawals $6.52 Digital Ocean
Final Balance $10,307.88 July 29, 2026
Notes:
Membership
Total membership is 143 members. That includes 127 (voting) Members, 14 Family (voting) members, and 2 associate members.
Sam KC9GPY moved to accept the Treasurer’s report and John K9JK seconded the motion. Hearing no objections, the treasurer’s report was approved.
Choice 1: Dues are payable via PayPal MCWAPaypal@gmail.com $10/year. Be sure to select ‘Friends & Family’ when paying via PayPal. Please include your call sign, it helps the treasurer to credit the correct membership.
Choice 2: Cash given to Joe N9OK in person at a regular club meeting.
Choice 3: Checks can be sent to:
Joe Robin N9OK
4410 Billingsgate Lane
Woodstock, IL 60098
Be sure to include your call sign!
Be aware we are now charged $0.50 bank fee per check now.
Recent Events
Future Events
2026 Hamfest Calendar by K9MSG is available at:
https://www.w9dup.org/hamfests.html
Amateur Radio Events also publishes a list at:
https://www.amateurradioevents.com/
Colorado QSO Party Sat. Sept. 12, 2026
Plans are continuing for a picnic for MCWA and SUHFARS group. Aug 16th is the target date. More info is on the reflector(https://groups.io)
Oct 11 Ham Radio for Chicago Marathon Contact John W9JM@ARRL.NET to volunteer.
Contest Activities
Mike WB8BZK talked about ARRL’s activities around America 250th anniversary. He also encouraged using the club call sign K9RN for affliated club contacts. Please coordinate the usage of K9RN with John KA9CAR.
Member Activity
Seth KD9TAW has been building Ham station software called Nexus and is looking for users for beta testing. It can be downloaded here: https://github.com/kd9taw/Nexus/releases/latest
More info is available here: https://hamradiotools.io/nexus/
With group discussions here: https://discord.gg/rfBMQesfy
Old Business
New Business
The next regular meeting will be Tuesday, Sept 1, 2026 at the Algonquin Township meeting room. Open “eyeball” QSOs start at 6:30 PM, with the meeting starting at 7:00 PM.
Sam KC9GPY made a motion to adjourn, Dave(Ruffers) K9AT seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 7:27 PM.
Program
MMANA-GAL Antenna modeling software by Dan KD9M
http://gal-ana.de/basicmm/en/
Posted by Lyle Giese(W9LRG), Secretary, MCWA